In 2007, more than 200 teams set out on an ambitious automotive undertaking. The X Prize Foundation announced it would create a $10-million competition open to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that achieved 100 miles per gallon equivalent. AutoblogGreen followed the competition in real time, but the grueling three-year adventure has now been recounted in fascinating detail by author Jason Fagone in Ingenious, an ambitious new book on sale this month.

Fagone follows four of the teams in the competition, chronicling the adventures of these innovators, inventors and tinkerers who rose above their relatively limited automotive experience to achieve incredible results. He recently chatted with us about the book, about the legacy of the X Prize and the state of American innovation itself. Check out our review of Ingenious and our fascinating conversation with Fagone below.